Russia continues to abuse the mechanisms of international criminal prosecution

Russia has put Pavel Ushevets, a Ukrainian ‘rooftopper’, on the international wanted list. Pavel became subject to criminal prosecution after having conducted a pro-Ukrainian performance in Moscow. There is a danger that Russia, in an attempt to get hold of the Ukrainian, will put him on Interpol’s wanted list as well. This is not the first case of Russia abusing the mechanisms of international criminal prosecution for the purpose of getting hold of the regime’s political opponents. The Open Dialog Foundation believes that the international community must put an end to such abuses which discredit the system of international legal cooperation. One of the solutions could be to suspend Russia’s membership of the International Criminal Police Organisation (INTERPOL).

On 20.08.2014, a few days before the celebration of Ukraine’s Independence Day, a Ukrainian ‘rooftopper’ named Pavel Ushevets (aka Grigoriy Mustang) carried out a pro-Ukrainian patriotic act in Moscow. He climbed onto the roof of one of the city’s high-rise buildings, fixed a Ukrainian flag on the spire and painted the star crowning the house blue and yellow. He managed to do all this whilst remaining incognito.

The Open Dialog Foundation believes that the charges against Pavel Ushevets are disproportionate to the offence committed and are a result of Kremlin’s anti-Ukrainian policy. There is a real danger of Pavel Ushevets being put on Interpol’s wanted list.

We are calling on Interpol to prevent its information systems from being abused by Russia and to ignore Russia’s possible request to put Pavel Ushevets on the wanted list. This case is one of the many which demonstrates how Russia abuses the mechanisms of international criminal prosecution in its fight against adversaries of the authoritarian regime.

We wish to draw the attention of the Commission for the Control of INTERPOL's Files to the fact that Russia has been systematically abusing international law. Cases have quite often been documented in which Russia has used the mechanisms of this international organisation to persecute people on political and non-criminal grounds.

In summer 2014, as the Ukrainian-Russian crisis was becoming more and more acute, the Investigatory Committee of Russia opened a criminal case against the Ukrainian statesmen Igor Kolomoyski and Arsen Avakov. These are fabricated cases; however, the Ukrainians were placed on the international wanted list.

We believe that the abuses committed by Russia are unacceptable. We call on Interpol and its member states, as well as the European Parliament, European Commission, UN, PACE, OSCE PA to consider suspending Russia’s membership in the International Criminal Police Organisation (INTERPOL) for its systematic abuses of the organisation’s mechanisms.